Unless it's a game I just 'HAVE' to have, I've been fairly consistent as of late of waiting many months for the price to drop.

A few things I've noted by waiting:

1) I always check Amazon 'Deal of the Day' under video games. A little luck will grab you a fairly new game for $39.99 if I just check every day.

2) Waiting 6 month and even sometimes 9 month will get me the original game + DLC and map packs for a reduced price. I literally just got both Borderlands and GoW 2 'Game of the Year' editions for $19.99 each. If I would have bought one of these on Day one ($59.99) plus the DLC and map packs as they came out, I figure I would have spent at least $75-80 each.

3) I even look at GameStop. Picked up a brand new Dead Space for $16.99 and it's in mint condition.

4) Many times, by waiting a few month, you'll be surprised how many patches and updates were released and often my 1st experience is generally superior to those that got it day one, because now the bugs are fixed.

I buy almost every game I own when it's cheap and/or pre-owned. There's plenty of them to buy without having to rush out straight away to buy them, unless of course it's something really awesome you can't miss.

This is especially more common for people to do in Australia. For obvious financial reasons.

I find myself strangely swayed by bargains sometimes, for instance the recent Magicka sale, I was never quite convinced that it'd be my kinda thing, but when Steam put it on sale with all the extra stuff, I decided not only did I want it, but I wanted all of it, and I also wanted my best mate to be playing it with me, so bought the complete pack twice, instead of the basic game once.

Nevermind. PC gaming, contrary to popular belief, is actually cheaper in the long run. The PC I built cost $515 dollars and it can nearly max Crysis at 1080p. Therefore, it's only $215 more than a 360 with a 250 gig and it has a 1 Tb. Furthermore, DD games almost always drop a ton faster than 360/PS3 games. I got MoH for $7.50 a month ago, and Borderland GOTY for $7.49. The used copies of either of these games are substantially more, especially if you factor in shipping from Amazon.

Edit: MoH is $17/$21 cheapest, and Borderlands is $22/$29 cheapest. (360/PS3) Alone, that's $24 in savings. Multiple that times 10 (so 20 games total) and the savings is $240.

DonTsetsi:I know how it is, being part of the European market, but having much less income than most citizens of the other member countries. StarCraft2 was 1/4th of my monthly income at launch and it's not much cheaper now.

I think the only reason the price changes for you guys is because of currency exchange. It's still 60 USD here.

It's 60 Euro in the European Union, but my country is the poorest in Europe.

Straying Bullet:As a person living in the Netherlands himself, I barely made use of the UK. Something with the pound-euro currency just makes me less trustful against a nation who is in the EU but refuses to use the Euro.

At any rate, discipline/patience are truly the virtues you need to master.

Moving to the Euro is a dumb idea. That's why the UK is refusing to do it.

Just look at the trouble Greece and Southern Ireland are in because of the ill advised move.

A universal currency, or even just a continental currency, is a really bad idea anyway.

For one thing, not all of the countries using the same currency need the same interest rate. Europe is a pretty big place and there are countries at either end of the demographic scale who require very different needs. A country doing well needs a higher interest rate whilst a struggling economy needs a low one. How can that be regulated fairly when you have once currency?

Not to mention ridiculous side effects like tax harmonisation and loss of national control over currency.

Straying Bullet:As a person living in the Netherlands himself, I barely made use of the UK. Something with the pound-euro currency just makes me less trustful against a nation who is in the EU but refuses to use the Euro.

At any rate, discipline/patience are truly the virtues you need to master.

Moving to the Euro is a dumb idea. That's why the UK is refusing to do it.

Just look at the trouble Greece and Southern Ireland are in because of the ill advised move.

A universal currency, or even just a continental currency, is a really bad idea anyway.

For one thing, not all of the countries using the same currency need the same interest rate. Europe is a pretty big place and there are countries at either end of the demographic scale who require very different needs. A country doing well needs a higher interest rate whilst a struggling economy needs a low one. How can that be regulated fairly when you have once currency?

Not to mention ridiculous side effects like tax harmonisation and loss of national control over currency.

You don't get it do you? I have no trouble with them keeping the Pound. I am WELL aware what Europe is facing but I simply don't bother with currency exchange rates and rather know what I am paying at that exact moment. But for you to get all political/economical about it, wasn't needed. Appreciated but futile.

But the author already gave me a website originated in The Netherlands itself with shockingly cheap prices.

Straying Bullet:As a person living in the Netherlands himself, I barely made use of the UK. Something with the pound-euro currency just makes me less trustful against a nation who is in the EU but refuses to use the Euro.

At any rate, discipline/patience are truly the virtues you need to master.

Moving to the Euro is a dumb idea. That's why the UK is refusing to do it.

Just look at the trouble Greece and Southern Ireland are in because of the ill advised move.

A universal currency, or even just a continental currency, is a really bad idea anyway.

For one thing, not all of the countries using the same currency need the same interest rate. Europe is a pretty big place and there are countries at either end of the demographic scale who require very different needs. A country doing well needs a higher interest rate whilst a struggling economy needs a low one. How can that be regulated fairly when you have once currency?

Not to mention ridiculous side effects like tax harmonisation and loss of national control over currency.

You don't get it do you? I have no trouble with them keeping the Pound. I am WELL aware what Europe is facing but I simply don't bother with currency exchange rates and rather know what I am paying at that exact moment. But for you to get all political/economical about it, wasn't needed. Appreciated but futile.

But the author already gave me a website originated in The Netherlands itself with shockingly cheap prices.

The only thing I was replying to was the fact that you said

you:Something with the pound-euro currency just makes me less trustful against a nation who is in the EU but refuses to use the Euro.

I'm just pointing out why they refused to move.

And exchange rates are a good thing for countries less well off trading with better off countries. Take this guy for instance.

DonTsetsi:I know how it is, being part of the European market, but having much less income than most citizens of the other member countries. StarCraft2 was 1/4th of my monthly income at launch and it's not much cheaper now.

I think the only reason the price changes for you guys is because of currency exchange. It's still 60 USD here.

It's 60 Euro in the European Union, but my country is the poorest in Europe.

The minimum wage in Brazil is around 300 US$. A PS3 here costs around 1.200 US$. Do the math.

I am privileged to be able to play games legally, but I am not an hypocrite: games in lesser economies cost an outrageous amount of money. Governments and the game companies have to understand the sheer size of this market and act accordingly.

Or, you'll have millions and millions of pirated consoles and games, such as the PS2 in Brazil.

The hardest part about going "on a budget" from not being on a budget is the wait. If you are buy now, buy buy buy, the newest and latest, then when you start the wait for titles to go down in price can be hell.

For me it was easy - my gaming was cut from every day to once per week. This made it extremely difficult to justify new game prices. Now that I can play more often, I am used to waiting for games to be discounted.

I still buy the occasional new title - but only if there is a MP aspect that I want to play. If you wait too long on some games, the MP dries up and blows away.

Alone Disciple:Unless it's a game I just 'HAVE' to have, I've been fairly consistent as of late of waiting many months for the price to drop.

A few things I've noted by waiting:

1) I always check Amazon 'Deal of the Day' under video games. A little luck will grab you a fairly new game for $39.99 if I just check every day.

2) Waiting 6 month and even sometimes 9 month will get me the original game + DLC and map packs for a reduced price. I literally just got both Borderlands and GoW 2 'Game of the Year' editions for $19.99 each. If I would have bought one of these on Day one ($59.99) plus the DLC and map packs as they came out, I figure I would have spent at least $75-80 each.

3) I even look at GameStop. Picked up a brand new Dead Space for $16.99 and it's in mint condition.

4) Many times, by waiting a few month, you'll be surprised how many patches and updates were released and often my 1st experience is generally superior to those that got it day one, because now the bugs are fixed.

A GameFly membership can pay for itself with a single sale. I picked up many a game for $15 or less on one of their sales, and the game is often brand new.

Gaming in Serbia is not easy by any means. Newly released titles go from about 70 Euros, and what they consider to be bargains are really not even close in terms of price. When I bought my 360, I had no idea how to acquire games. That is when I discovered importing. I can only do this with a handful of sites, but the prices are absolutely amazing. I can get a game that was released only a few months ago for about 50%-60% of it's initial price. Of course, occasionally, I like to save up for a new release (i.e. LA Noire).

Importing is excellent. However, not being part of the EU can hit that potential. The problem is customs. About 99% of the time I had no problems, but I remember ordering Black Ops which was about 40 Euros at Play-Asia when it was released, only to get a customs bill of about 18 Euros. Fortunately, I haven't had this problem since. Most of the people that play games here do tend to pirate them. Mostly it's because of pure ignorance, and not realizing the importance of purchasing games and other software. Many say that this is because they have low income, however, with an income that is about 40% lower than the average wage, I've managed to purchase an Xbox 360, an additional wireless controller, and a library of some 20+ games in just over 2 years. Now, I can't afford Live Gold but if there's a game that I really want to play online, I can get at least a month.

It's all about priority. The best tactic is to always have at least 20 Euros on your account and the great deals will come (i.e. Red Dead Redemption for 20 Euros).

Trying to find a legit copy of a game. THEY DON'T EXIST THERE. And I'm not talking about some shitty stall, I'm talking about biggest mall in that part of Asia, huge chain store, every game is pirated.

It's not even unobvious pirating, I'm pretty sure Nintendo didn't make a 26 games in one DS cartridge... or Pokemon Citadark Version with the kid from Pokemon XD on the cover.

Though it makes sense I guess, the consoles and actually legit games are UBER expensive.

beema:I agree with what this guy has to say, but did anyone else find this article really depressing?

I found it especially depressing since the situation in my country is even worse.

The average salary is around 481.95$ while prices are like in other EU countries. Games are even more expensive then in EU countries. I know that Crysis 2 was around 80$ when it came out. Getting it shipped from some EU country isn't an option since most shops don't ship, or require additional payment which makes it almost the same cost, just with longer waiting time.

Wait a min wait a min. The current exchange rate for Zlotys is 1 Polish zloty = 0.3657 US dollars

So that means that an xbox 360 costs 303 dollars in Poland. I did a google search and xbox 360's are going for $299.99 Source

Means games are 80 bucks too that's kinda steep but the console cost doesn't seem to bad. And as for the Salary they are talking about, I make about much ($940 or/ 2570.4270 zlotys) and I can't afford an Xbox 360 either.

This is one of the few articles I didn't really care for. I guess I resent the assertion that its harder to be a gamer in Poland.

I suppose being in the UK means I'm quite lucky. We've got a few budget ranges, such as Mastertronic's MAD and SoldOut) and pretty much everything by Focus. I still think some of our games are relatively expensive, such as the £35 price tag for Starcraft 2 (Compared to the £25-30 price tag for most new games) and the more popular titles tend not to drop in price all that much. I think The Sims 3 has mostly hovered around the £30 price point since release.

It sucks that it costs so much in countries like Brazil and Poland, and they do have my sympathy, and I hope the prices drop to more reasonable levels over time.

Sandytimeman:Wait a min wait a min. The current exchange rate for Zlotys is 1 Polish zloty = 0.3657 US dollars

So that means that an xbox 360 costs 303 dollars in Poland. I did a google search and xbox 360's are going for $299.99 [url=http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=xbox+360&hl=en&prmd=ivnsur&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=5811152239504083464&sa=X&ei=FsOoTdTmIcaCtgfyo7HeBw&ved=0CI4B[/url]

The world doesn't work like that. At all. There are taxes to consider, possibly import fees, supply/demand and other factors. $303 is a lot if your income is $606, is it not? It's all relative.

I'm from Poland and I don't have a problem like you do tbh. If you got a good job and move you ass more than the avrage slackers do than you can afford much much more. I'm a lawyer plus I learn at a university and is ok if you do some work on weekends.

Really depresing article and tbh it generalises too much and shows Poland as a country of poor people which is not true, well not mostly.

BiH-Kira:I found it especially depressing since the situation in my country is even worse.

The average salary is around 481.95$ while prices are like in other EU countries. Games are even more expensive then in EU countries. I know that Crysis 2 was around 80$ when it came out. Getting it shipped from some EU country isn't an option since most shops don't ship, or require additional payment which makes it almost the same cost, just with longer waiting time.

So yeah.... gaming in my country is really depressing.

I will think of you before I complain about a game being $60 next time. Although I still don't think PC games should cost the same as console games.

Fantastic post! If you'd like to talk, I'm always available through IM channels, or even e-mail if you fancy.

Theotherguy:I'm from Poland and I don't have a problem like you do tbh. If you got a good job and move you ass more than the avrage slackers do than you can afford much much more. I'm a lawyer plus I learn at a university and is ok if you do some work on weekends.

Really depresing article and tbh it generalises too much and shows Poland as a country of poor people which is not true, well not mostly.

I didn't like it.

Don't you think that the point is, that you shouldn't have to murder yourself by working 24/7 to play the latest installment of a game?

Plus.

You're a lawyer and a lecturer. I can't believe you are a lawyer and a student, it's impossible. Anyway, if you meant that you are a student of law or you are a lecturer and you do work on weekends - great! But I wouldn't say that just everyone can get a part-time job, have their university costs and living costs paid by parents and easily concentrate on working to afford your hobby. By the description you have gave us, I could say you are quite lucky! So yeah, congratulations!

About generalization:It is obvious that in every society, the top quartile of people who earn much above the average will not complain... I'd even add that it's quite OK to game while earning the average salary too, but then again you need to pay living costs. I'm not so sure everyone who games in our country is so eager to pay for games as you are. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I was working in Britain a few years ago, and when I went to GAME I felt like I could buy the whole store with a budget of 200 quid. The point is, gaming should be quite accessible - and it's not when the prices are steep. And this is the secondary role of the article, to clash realities and create contrast!

Don't you think that the point is, that you shouldn't have to murder yourself by working 24/7 to play the latest installment of a game?

Plus.

You're a lawyer and a lecturer. I can't believe you are a lawyer and a student, it's impossible. Anyway, if you meant that you are a student of law or you are a lecturer and you do work on weekends - great! But I wouldn't say that just everyone can get a part-time job, have their university costs and living costs paid by parents and easily concentrate on working to afford your hobby. By the description you have gave us, I could say you are quite lucky! So yeah, congratulations!

About generalization:It is obvious that in every society, the top quartile of people who earn much above the average will not complain... I'd even add that it's quite OK to game while earning the average salary too, but then again you need to pay living costs. I'm not so sure everyone who games in our country is so eager to pay for games as you are. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I was working in Britain a few years ago, and when I went to GAME I felt like I could buy the whole store with a budget of 200 quid. The point is, gaming should be quite accessible - and it's not when the prices are steep. And this is the secondary role of the article, to clash realities and create contrast!

Thanks for reading though!

Exactly, relativism and free economy at its finest.

Ok, where to start.

A) I teach/learn people at the university, I finished my studies some time ago.

B) I'm not top qualified, I didn't finish what we call "aplication" in Poland, but I earn money above the Polish avrage. You don't need to be "top" of the foodchain to afford games, you just need to put a bit more effort in it, if you didn't finish good studies and stuff you can't really think cash will shower on you, now can you.

And C) Yeah Britain is richer, and some games are cheaper there(like NDS ones) but still, like I said if you work a bit more you can afford it. And sometimes there is just no other option if you want a good living in Poland.

But you know the article was soooo pesimistic, really, that was the only part of it that made me post.

While I'm completely against pirating as a whole, I've obviously never had to experience this in my country. In the UK, I make about £900 a month. The average, brand new, released game is around £42 in my region of the country (I know independent shops where I can get it much cheaper, but that's neither here nor there).

So, to work it out, I could get around 21 brand new release games at average cost with my pay packet. I can see why it's unfair they're at ridiculous cost elsewhere from that perspective, and when they start introducing more and more invasive DRM and anti-pirate countermeasures they've got to at some point take a step back and realise how many people would actually buy the game if they lowered the price to a state where people can actually afford it.

HaraDaya:I think I got a little inspired to stop buying everything off Steam. Unless it's a sale/deal, it's usually not cheap.

I buy almost all my games on steam now, except for my ps3 obviously ^_^, I simply wait for the game I want to come down in price or wait for it to come on sale. It's amazing. I love steam. So easy and convenient and with all the sales they have theres always great deals on great games.

And no... I don't work for Valve ^_^ LOL Wish I did though. ... .... I'd make sure episode 3 came out ^_~ hehe

Straying Bullet:As a person living in the Netherlands himself, I barely made use of the UK. Something with the pound-euro currency just makes me less trustful against a nation who is in the EU but refuses to use the Euro.

At any rate, discipline/patience are truly the virtues you need to master.

I live in Scotland myself and have never understood why the UK opted out of joining the euro. I think its some warped sense of nationalism by the far right. I honestly dont know for sure. Just makes no sense.

Straying Bullet:As a person living in the Netherlands himself, I barely made use of the UK. Something with the pound-euro currency just makes me less trustful against a nation who is in the EU but refuses to use the Euro.

At any rate, discipline/patience are truly the virtues you need to master.

I live in Scotland myself and have never understood why the UK opted out of joining the euro. I think its some warped sense of nationalism by the far right. I honestly dont know for sure. Just makes no sense.

It has more to do with economics than nationalism, although the a lot of the public do hold quite nationalist views

OT: I didn't know that it was so bad in Poland, and I thought we were getting it bad.

Straying Bullet:As a person living in the Netherlands himself, I barely made use of the UK. Something with the pound-euro currency just makes me less trustful against a nation who is in the EU but refuses to use the Euro.

At any rate, discipline/patience are truly the virtues you need to master.

I live in Scotland myself and have never understood why the UK opted out of joining the euro. I think its some warped sense of nationalism by the far right. I honestly dont know for sure. Just makes no sense.

It has more to do with economics than nationalism, although the a lot of the public do hold quite nationalist views

OT: I didn't know that it was so bad in Poland, and I thought we were getting it bad.

As the comments point out, things are even worse in Brazil. In Polands case its simply because Poland as a country is part of EU, and EU is considered a solid market by many companies. Food prices are for example about the same price-tag like anywhere in the EU. If they wouldn't be, smart people from the EU would simply concentrate on importing things from Poland as Euro is 4x more expensive than Zloty (meaning that minus logistics costs, its about 4 times cheaper to buy here). Price elasticity wouldn't let a "regional" price work in interconnected markets such as the EU one.

I'm in South Africa, Average salary for young professional starting is about 8000-10000 ZAR p/m Xbox 360 Console averages from ZAR 2800 (400 USD) games go for 699 ZAR about 60 USD. The salaries mentioned above do not take into account unskilled labour those average between 2000 - 4000 ZAR p/m

I generally buy games second-hand via forums and or Cash Converter stores (2nd hand stores) to put it into perspective a game is on average about 1/4th of rent for a relatively cheap apartment. Also I discuss with my friends what titles they are buying so we don't get the same games therefore we can swap...

prirated games are wrong not for the stores but for the devs that get their Ips stolen and sold by priates all around the world, But I argree with some of this article its just I feel sorry for some developers programmers and artists (includes music)because they do not get paid that much A partically sad story of that is When blizzard had just started out they litterly had to survive two years on money their parents gave them

Absolutely love the Counter Strike Source game in the jacket, honestly I still think it is probably the most played game here in Poland. But I digress, it really sucks to be a gamer in Poland, my 360 controller crapped out on me and I went to a Saturn, it was like 200-220 or something zloty and I was like well...guess I'm not playing my 360 any time soon. I've started to buy games from India and Russia just because they are far cheaper (though I usually have to wait like 2 weeks for shipping). I'm honestly not looking forward to Poland switching over to the Euro eventually, I think it will make things even worse, even with some help from my parents, being a student here money gets insanely tight. Hell there have been some weeks where I'll go out with my friends, look at my budget after my hang over and be like crap I have like 50 zloty max for a week of food...back to 18grosh bread from carfour....

Rednog:it really sucks to be a gamer in Poland, my 360 controller crapped out on me and I went to a Saturn, it was like 200-220 or something zloty and I was like well...guess I'm not playing my 360 any time soon.

It's 120 zloty, I don't know where did you look for it, but even in crappy overpriced media markt/empik it's 149zl. And you can get a new one even cheaper on allegro.

I've started to buy games from India and Russia just because they are far cheaper (though I usually have to wait like 2 weeks for shipping).

I was in St. Petersburg for a few months and the only non pirate game I saw there was the one I bought, that is Valkyrie Profile: Lynneth on the PSP. You sure You're not buying pirates?

I'll go out with my friends, look at my budget after my hang over and be like crap I have like 50 zloty max for a week of food...back to 18grosh bread from carfour....

Chineese noodle soups ftw dude, belive me :D but either you're really low on cash or spend too much on drinking/live in 3 city or some other expensive place. I never had big money problems in Olsztyn/Toruń or Warsaw even tho I wasnt exactly a millionair when i was at the uni.

Rednog:it really sucks to be a gamer in Poland, my 360 controller crapped out on me and I went to a Saturn, it was like 200-220 or something zloty and I was like well...guess I'm not playing my 360 any time soon.

It's 120 zloty, I don't know where did you look for it, but even in crappy overpriced media markt/empik it's 149zl. And you can get a new one even cheaper on allegro.

I've started to buy games from India and Russia just because they are far cheaper (though I usually have to wait like 2 weeks for shipping).

I was in St. Petersburg for a few months and the only non pirate game I saw there was the one I bought, that is Valkyrie Profile: Lynneth on the PSP. You sure You're not buying pirates?

I'll go out with my friends, look at my budget after my hang over and be like crap I have like 50 zloty max for a week of food...back to 18grosh bread from carfour....

Chineese noodle soups ftw dude, belive me :D but either you're really low on cash or spend too much on drinking/live in 3 city or some other expensive place. I never had big money problems in Olsztyn/Toruń or Warsaw even tho I wasnt exactly a millionair when i was at the uni.

I'm really surprised you saw one for 120, at Saturn the glossy black ones were insanely expensive, though that was a year or so ago.I usually buy the Russian/Indian games on ebay or some random sites, pretty sure they're not pirated since the CD key usually activates on steam or w/e associated company. I'll be home in 2 days, I can scan a copy of Splinter Cell Conviction in all its odd lettered Russian glory.My budget ends up being really slim since my classes run from like today 8:00 - 19:30 so I really don't have chances to get any job as a student (medschool) and I pretty much have to live off of any and all the money I earn over the summer break, which doesn't add up to much and money runs tight a lot.